Events

Bears Take Shelter In Boulder Neighborhood Tree

A mama bear and her two cubs took a nap in a tree in the Wonderland Hills neighborhood of Boulder (credit: CBS)

BOULDER, Colo. (CBS4)– A mother bear and her two cubs took refuge in a tree in a Boulder neighborhood for several hours while people stopped to take pictures and enjoy a little taste of the wild.

Neighbors spotted the bears around 6:30 a.m. darting and chasing each other in a field near the Wonderland Hills neighborhood near Linden and Broadway in Boulder. Then the bears moved into a tree for a nap.

A mama bear and her two cubs took a nap in a tree in the Wonderland Hills neighborhood of Boulder (credit: CBS)

“I’ve never seen a bear this close before,” said Boulder resident Alicia Gromico.

Gromico spotted the bears from her bedroom window. That’s when a lot of people started coming by to get a look at the bears.

“The poor mama was just mewling, not growling, but trying to say, ‘Stay away.’ She seemed so upset,” said Gromico. “And then this poor man and his dog are casually walking up the trail and they didn’t know the bear was there. She growled at them and scared the wits out of them… shooed her cubs up the tree.”

A volunteer with the Colorado Parks and Wildlife stood by in the Wonderland Lake area reminding people to stay a safe distance away from the bears.

A mama bear and her two cubs took a nap in a tree in the Wonderland Hills neighborhood of Boulder (credit: CBS)

Don Shea was the first neighbor to spot the trio in a field behind his house.

“On a flat run from that tree line to that tree and up the tree as fast as they could go with two little cubs behind them as fast as their feet could move,” said Shea. “And they’ve been up there ever since, just hangin’ out.”

About 12:30 p.m. the bears came down from the tree and headed east into the neighborhood.